[savagecat45]

Some of my plastisol inks are waaay to think to use for printing.. is there a solution I can use to thin out the ink without any problems? What do I do?

 

[jezhangun]

try a product called curable reducer, most ink manufactures have one....you can add as much as you need without the risk of adding too much plastisizer and adversly effecting the cure....it will however reduce your opacity the more you add

 

[spankthafunk]

Cureable Reducer (Detackifier) and Soft Hand Base (Soft Hand Clear) are your options. I would do some searches on this forum for these keywords for more information.

Basically, Cureable Reducer is going to thin out your inks and make them have a smoother feel. This stuff works really well so you don't want to over do it because it will make it so that your shirts will never fully cure. You only want to use a small percantage ratio to your ink (2-5%).

Soft Hand Base is basically Plastisol ink without the pigment, so it looks like white puddy. You can mix this with your ink to thin out the ink, but be aware that you are also bringing the pigment of the ink down, which will make the ink more transparent. This method is not recommended for dark and black shirts because you will see the color come through the ink.

 

[ecreations]

Viscosity or Curable Reducer. Check with your supplier, they should have one.

 

[jezhangun]

Basically, Cureable Reducer is going to thin out your inks and make them have a smoother feel. This stuff works really well so you don't want to over do it because it will make it so that your shirts will never fully cure. You only want to use a small percantage ratio to your ink (2-5%).

.

its called cureable reducer because it is indeed cureable.... put some straight on some fabric and run it thru the dryer , it will cure

 

[spankthafunk]

its called cureable reducer because it is indeed cureable.... put some straight on some fabric and run it thru the dryer , it will cure

I never said it woudn't cure, I said it would never fully cure if you use too much. Cureable Reducer is plasticizer with a little bit of PVC added. PVC bonds the ink to the shirt and so if you use too much reducer you are bringing down the amount of PVC in your ink. If you use a high percantage 20-50% of cureable reducer you may think your shirt is fully cured, but it will wash out in the washing machine.

 

[spankthafunk]

Great explanation Fred, Thanks!

As far as stirring, I've even used my drill and a flat drill bit with the same method Fred described. Cut a hole in some cardboard, and mix up the ink with a drill bit. This will keep ink from splashing around every while still giving you the right amount of stirrage you need. Can't wait to be big enough for my own electric mixer though. . .

 

[jezhangun]

I never said it woudn't cure, I said it would never fully cure if you use too much. Cureable Reducer is plasticizer with a little bit of PVC added. PVC bonds the ink to the shirt and so if you use too much reducer you are bringing down the amount of PVC in your ink. If you use a high percantage 20-50% of cureable reducer you may think your shirt is fully cured, but it will wash out in the washing machine.

the curable reducer that wilflex makes is a finished "ink" and I have added pigment concentrate to it (up to 5%?) for all over prints on lights and it held up great...I'm not sure about any other brands,,,but still I rarely ever use it...I like my inks straight out of the bucket just stir and go....most inks are actually too runny for my taste....
the only time I base things back are to take the color out when doing some simulated process stuff

 

[spankthafunk]

the curable reducer that wilflex makes is a finished "ink" and I have added pigment concentrate to it (up to 5%?) for all over prints on lights and it held up great...I'm not sure about any other brands,,,but still I rarely ever use it...I like my inks straight out of the bucket just stir and go....most inks are actually too runny for my taste....
the only time I base things back are to take the color out when doing some simulated process stuff

Yea I don't know much about that brand.

When I print, I like to keep every variable consistent from one print to another as possible, to elimante errors. Every ink that I get has different thicknesses to it, so I usually add a little bit to get every ink around the same consistency everytime. A Maxopake from Union ink is going to be WWWAAAY thicker than an UltraSoft, so I will add a little reducer to get it closer to the UltraSoft. Or better yet, I'll blend two similiar colors (80% Maxopake, 20% Ultrasoft) to get the right consistency. The great thing about this business is there's a million ways to do the same type job, and everyone has their own way.